Amish Teacher Dialogues with Teacher Educators: Research, Culture, and Voices of Critique

Abstract

This dialogical project is framed within critical inquiry methods to bring an Amish teacher’s voice to the forefront. Henry, an Amish middle school teacher, and two university teacher educators in northeastern Indiana collaboratively critiqued educational literature written about the Amish culture from the past 15 years. Building on critical ethnography and narrative methods, the authors used dialogue as a medium for inquiry. The intersubjective, collaborative project democratized the university researchers’ research role and allowed an Amish voice to gain a place in the academic field of research.